Hours of Service

The Cambridge Police Department (CPD) is committed to providing the highest level of professional police service while respecting the constitutional rights of every person living in or visiting the City of Cambridge. The department uses modern approaches to community policing to decrease crime and improve the delivery of services. A major goal of the department is to involve citizens, neighborhoods and police in formulating policy and policing strategies and community oriented policing to combat crime and undesirable elements associated with crime.

The Cambridge Police have made an arrest following an investigation of a breaking and entering to a residence early this morning on Hunting Street in the Wellington-Harrington neighborhood of Cambridge.

The Cambridge Police Department will be conducting live gunshot testing on Tuesday, August 27 between 8:30-10:30 p.m. in The Port and Inman-Harrington neighborhoods to evaluate improvements made to the city’s ShotSpotter gun detection service.

Useful Documents & Resources

CodeRED is an emergency notification system that allows the City to send emergency notifications to subscribers via email, text and phone calls. This service is used in the event of emergencies affecting the City, such as snow emergencies, evacuations, large-scale water outages or other significant service disruptions.

BridgeStat is a multi-layered, dynamic, intelligence-based approach to crime reduction, quality of life improvement, and personnel and resource management based on four distinct principles – accurate and timely intelligence, effective tactics, rapid deployment, and relentless follow-up and assessment. At the core of our approach is a philosophy that fosters teamwork and creative problem solving.

In the latest effort by Cambridge Police to increase the department’s accessibility and communication with the public, CPD has released a smartphone application that will connect users directly to the Cambridge Police Department from their smartphone.

Tips and FAQs

Submitting Anonymous Crime Tips

To Report a Crime via Telephone Anonymously

Please call 617-349-3359 and leave a message on 24-hour Anonymous Crime/Drug Tip Hotline. This is a mechanism for citizens to provide investigators with information relating to crimes, suspicious activity, and illicit drug use and distribution, as well as other issues.

When calling, you will generally hear a taped message explaining that a detective is not presently available. However, speak as long as you like, explaining the activity in as much detail as you can. You do not have to provide your name, address, or telephone number. All information is kept strictly confidential.

To Text a Tip to Cambridge Police

Send a text message to Tip411 (847411). Begin your message with Tip650 and then type your message. You will receive a response from the Cambridge Police with the option to continue communicating. Once you are done communicating with police, please send the word STOP to end the conversation.

To Send an Anonymous Tip via Email

Please remember that this is not a replacement for 9-1-1. If you witness an emergency situation, please call 9-1-1 immediately.

Receiving Email or Text Alerts About Crime in Your Neighborhood

Citizen Observer is a service used by the Cambridge Police Department to send e-mail and text alerts about crime and other notifications to the various neighborhoods of the City.

Registering for Citizen Observer

Residents are encouraged to sign up to receive notifications for their neighborhood as well as the "CITYWIDE" group. The groups are:

Cambridge PD: CITYWIDE

Cambridge PD: East Cambridge

Cambridge PD: MIT

Cambridge PD: Inman/Harrington

Cambridge PD: Area 4

Cambridge PD: Cambridgeport

Cambridge PD: Mid-Cambridge

Cambridge PD: Riverside

Cambridge PD: Agassiz

Cambridge PD: Peabody

Cambridge PD: West Cambridge

Cambridge PD: North Cambridge

Cambridge PD: Cambridge Highlands

Cambridge PD: Strawberry Hill

Notifications will come in three forms:

Citizen Alerts - The most important and timely notification from the police will be labeled as such and sent to the affected neighborhood(s) and the "CITYWIDE" group. These alerts will typically be sent within 12 hours of the incident during the following scenarios:

Threats to Public Safety

High Profile Incidents

Advisory - This type of notification will be primarily used to share important information with the community and will be sent to affected neighborhood(s) and the "CITYWIDE" group if the information affects the entire community. Typically, these notifications will be sent following the monthly BridgeStat release, and will include information about the following:

Significant Incidents and Follow-ups

Crime Patterns Identified in BridgeStat

Neighborhood Info - Notifications will be sent to inform individual neighborhoods about neighborhood-specific information that does not apply to the city as a whole, such as:

Annual Crime Reports

The Cambridge Police Department’s Annual Crime Reports, produced by the Crime Analysis Unit, are an attempt to provide detailed information so that citizens can make informed decisions about crime and safety in their neighborhoods. The more information made available to the public, the better the input will be in aiding the Police response to crime.

The goal of our Annual Reports is to provide this partnership with the knowledge to ensure the desired quality of life in all the neighborhoods of the City. For older reports, including quarterly crime reports and monthly BridgeStat releases, please visit our Publications page.

Monthly BridgeStat Reports

The Cambridge Police Department produces a monthly public report (called BridgeStat) to the community on current police priorities in terms of crime, traffic, community concerns, and disorder issues in the city. This is made available on the Cambridge Police Department’s website at www.CambridgePolice.org/BridgeStat on the first Friday of each month.

BridgeStat is a multi-layered, dynamic, intelligence-based approach to crime reduction, quality of life improvement, and personnel and resource management based on four distinct principles – accurate and timely intelligence, effective tactics, rapid deployment, and relentless follow-up and assessment. At the core of our approach is a philosophy that fosters teamwork and creative problem solving. Police personnel hold bi-weekly meetings to devise strategies and tactics to solve problems, reduce crime, and ultimately improve quality of life in our community.

Filing a Motor Vehicle Crash Report

File an Accident ReportM.G.L. Chapter 90, Section 26 requires a person who was operating a motor vehicle involved in a crash in which (i) any person was killed or (ii) injured or (iii) in which there was damage in excess of $1,000 to any one vehicle or other property, to complete and file a Crash Operator Report with the Registrar within five (5) days after such crash (unless the person is physically incapable of doing so due to incapacity). The person completing the report must also send a copy of the report to the police department having jurisdiction on the way where the crash occurred. If the operator is incapacitated but is not the vehicle's owner, the owner is required to file the crash report within the five (5) days based on his/her knowledge and information obtained about the crash. The Registrar may require the owner or operator to supplement the report and he/she can revoke or suspend the license of any person violating any provision of this legal requirement. A police department is required to accept a report filed by an owner or operator whose vehicle has been damaged in a crash in which another person unlawfully left the scene even if damage to the vehicle does not exceed $1,000.

Police Details

The Detail Office is responsible for Off-Duty Employment, and is responsible for assigning off-duty officers to construction sites throughout the City to ensure motor vehicle and pedestrian safety. The office also assigns officers to provide various security details to private companies who wish an officer's presence.

ALL WORK IS PERFORMED BY OFF-DUTY OFFICERS AT NO COST TO THE CITY.

How to Request a Detail:
Log-in to https://details.cambridgepolice.org to do the following:
Schedule/Request Jobs
View Invoices
View Job history
View Scheduled Jobs
Update their vendor profile
To create a vendor profile, please contact the Detail Office at 617-349-3350 during regular business hours.

If the Detail Office is closed due to a holiday and you are looking for an emergency detail (you must have a permit to work otherwise), please call 617-349-3301.